2014 was a big election year for Republicans. Many won hard fought contests and battled to the last days while others cruised to victory winning by 10 points or more.
Other Republicans were lucky enough to face candidates that were just plain bad. Worse yet, several of them were highly touted by their parties and the media so when they fell apart, the spectacle was grand. The top 5 worst political candidates are:
Wendy Davis
Amazingly enough she was elevated to political stardom on the strength of a filibuster she performed that hoped to block legislation that would prevent late term abortions in the state of Texas. However, the rough and tumble of a real campaign was too much and the further she fell behind in the polls the more desperate she became, culminating in attacking her opponent Greg Abbott’s disability in a horrendous ad that backfired badly. Davis lost by 21 points.
Ed FitzGerald
This was supposed to be the year Democrats were going to do well in statewide elections in Ohio. And former FBI agent Ed Fitzgerald was going to be the one to take out sitting Governor John Kasich. Alas, it was not to be. Fitzgerald stumbled and was embroiled in scandals that one observer said was reserved for something like Saved By The Bell rather than state politics. A police report revealed that Fitzgerald was found in a car in a parking lot at 4:30am in 2012 with a woman that was not his wife. It was then discovered that Fitzgerald had not even secured a valid drivers license for much of the previous 10 years leading to speculation as to how he was able to get to work every day. Fitzgerald lost by 30 points.
Bruce Braley
The Democratic candidate started out on a good note in his race against republican Joni Ernst until he decided to open his mouth. It started with him insulting popular Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley for not being a lawyer and dismissing any ability he might have to head the judicial committee because he was a farmer. It was also learned he missed 75% of House Veterans Affairs Committee hearings which came in the wake of the VA scandal. He had skipped several hearings to attend fundraisers. Braley lost a very winnable race by nearly 10 points.
Martha Coakley
When Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy died, a special election was held and Coakley was one of the first to jump in. Through a series of painful gaffes and a bad campaign, she managed to lose to Scott Brown. Fast forward to 2014… after winning a race for Attorney General, she was well positioned to win the Governors race. However, once again she made misstep after misstep and managed to lose (though it was close) to Charlie Baker.
Charlie Crist
How does one lose to Rick Scott in Florida despite him having an approval rating below 40%? Be Charlie Crist. Crist, the former Republican and former Governor of Florida managed to be even less likable than Scott and as such the incumbent was able to eke out a victory.
Which candidates made your list as the worst of 2014?